The desire to develop control technologies in order to produce end-products more efficiently, or more cheaply, or of higher quality has existed for many years. Machines utilizing mechanical controls, hydraulic controls, or pneumatic controls were developed in the eighteenth century. With the advent of electrical technology, the increased ability to control the movement of work pieces from one work station to another down conveyor lines enabled a significant advance in the cost, efficiency and quality objectives of control technology. With the development of computers, particularly general purpose computers, control technology became much more flexible. Improvements in the control of a process could be effected by changes in software, as opposed to changes in hardware which were necessary on the earlier systems. Also, computer technology brought about the ability to automate processes not previously subject to machine control. For example, accounting work that was previously done by hand with the aid of simple adding machines or other calculating devices of that sort were automated by computerized systems to produce end-products in a much more efficient and less costly manner. The preparation of documents has been automated to some extent by the use of word processors. Generally speaking, computers have enabled the automation of information processes much the same as in an earlier day the electrical technology enabled the automatic movement of work pieces down a conveyor line.
The continued development of semi-conductor technology has enabled enormous computing capacity in very small computing elements. As a result, microprocessors have found use within machinery as control elements, replacing cams and gears and relays and other such devices of the previous control technologies. As a result the flexibility of programmed microprocessor is now available in many types of equipment. With microprocessor control of machines so pervasive, there occurs the need that various types of equipment in a work process be tied together and report to various processors which can manage the overall operation. Management may occur at the process level, i.e., to send a work piece from one work station to another and perform the operations called for, and it can occur on an information level as well, i. e., for example, processes can acquire information about machines so that they can be maintained prior to a breakdown, processes can schedule jobs, maintain inventories and automatically perform other accounting functions.
The particular complex environment in which the current invention was developed is the large mail room operation. In such an operation a variety of documents must be printed, fed along conveyor lines for correlation with other documents to comprise the particular mailing, through devices which may trim the documents, fold them, place them in envelopes and place them on trays. The envelopes will have a printed address so that a weighing mechanism may determine the postage that is needed and place the postage on the envelope. There are machines to sort mail according to zip codes and by walk sequence, i.e., the sequence that a mail carrier will follow delivering mail along a particular route. Finally, the outputs may be boxed according to the location to which they are sent and delivery automatically ordered for the next airplane leaving for that location.
In the large mailroom, information about recipients might be included in a database. For example, certain mailings may go to those people who are known to enjoy golf and other mailings may go to people who are in the dental profession. Some mail room operators may wish to track the effectiveness of marketing promotions. For example, people in a certain area might be targeted to receive a discount on an item and coupons for those people would receive a certain bar code. Another area might receive a different discount and have a different bar code. Later, once the coupons are returned, data relating the amount of interest developed by the promotion can be accumulated by reading the bar codes and automatically producing the reports.
As may be observed from the above description the amount of data which is organized in large mail room operations is enormous. It is not unusual for these operations to include banks of computers, banks of data storage equipment, various types of printers from many different manufacturers and complex inserting equipment capable of merging documents from several paths into one stack, folding, cutting, inserting, franking, sorting, and packaging.
In the current environment marks may be placed on the paper in a certain location so that scanning those marks can trigger the correct operation to direct that particular paper along its route to its destination in the proper envelope. Such marks can be on each page of a document or they can be on header pages. Such marks might require the trimming of a document before it is actually sent out to a customer.
FIG. 1 shows a simplified configuration that is utilized at the current time in print mail room facilities. The print job originates with application processes on a host 16 which is typically a large mainframe computer, making use of database facilities attached to the host. The generated print stream is converted into a device specific data stream and sent to the controller 11A of printer 11 for production of documents. An unwinder mechanism 10 is used to unwind rolls of paper and feed the paper into the printer 11. The printer output is passed to a folding machine 12 and organized on trays 13. The tray 13 is moved manually to provide input to a second line of machinery which may include devices to cut and trim the stacks of paper into individual documents and feed the documents through an inserting machine 14. Inserting machines are complex devices under the control of a microprocessor based controller 14A. The inserter may also receive documents from other document feeding devices and envelopes from another printing source for inserting the proper group of documents into a properly addressed envelope. The envelope may then pass through a franking machine and through sorting apparatus before being placed on trays 15 from which the properly sorted mail is packaged and sent off to the Post Office. An important advantage of the configuration as shown in FIG. 1 is that the printer line is separated from the inserter line of machinery. As a consequence the problems of matching the speed of these two lines is eliminated and printers are not held up by the operations of the inserters or vice versa. Such a configuration also makes the printer available for non-mail jobs. One of the important disadvantages is that marks are needed on each document or at least on header papers to correctly move the job through the equipment and into the proper envelope.
FIG. 2 shows a coupled configuration which is also in use at the current time. Again, the print job originates in the host 16 and in its large database and the print stream is sent to the controller 11A of printer 11. In this configuration an unwinder mechanism 10 unwinds a roll of paper for feeding to a printer 11, the output of which is directly coupled to the inserter line 14. The advantages of this type of configuration is that a folding machine 12 in the printer line is eliminated. Only a single operator is needed and the output of the printer is packaged for immediate mailing. An important disadvantage is that the operations of the inserter and the printer must be speed matched. Also, in this configuration the printer is dedicated to mail applications and the system is only as reliable as its weakest link. Marks on the paper are still needed to coordinate the documents from a printer with envelopes fed into the inserter from a different document feeder.
FIG. 3 shows a system which may be termed an intelligently coupled configuration. This system is similar to the configuration shown in FIG. 2 except that the controller 11A for the printer and the controller 14A for the inserter are enabled to exchange information so that as documents are printed, the printer can inquire if the inserter is ready. If it is, then the printer can send the document on to the inserter. This system enables the printer to communicate with the host 16 that originates the print job and provide the host with information about the inserting equipment that is connected to the printer. As a consequence, the system is enabled to ascertain the capabilities present on the equipment in the print path. This system also enables processes running on the host to advise the printer and the other equipment in the path when a job begins and when a job ends so that the need for marks on the paper is diminished or completely eliminated. This system also provides an error recovery operation such that if a job is completed without incident that can be recorded. This system provides software control over the process but still retains certain disadvantages. For example, the speed between the printer and the inserter still must be matched. The entire line is only as reliable as its weakest link and the printer is dedicated to mail applications.
FIG. 4 shows a network coupled configuration for which this invention is designed. The print jobs originate with application processes at a host 16 for generating a print stream sent to the controller 11A of a printer 11 in much the same manner as the other configurations described above. In this system, FIG. 4 shows an unwinder mechanism 10 is used to unwind rolls of paper and send them to a printer 11. It should be noted that paper input to the printer could be from cut sheet document feeders, a continuous form feeder or any other type of paper feeder. The output of the printer 11 is sent to a medium modifier 17 which may be, for example, a mechanism to imprint a color plate on a medium, or make a perforation cut on a page to be returned by a recipient. From the medium modifier, the document path leads to a folder mechanism 12 for stacking the documents on a tray 13. In this configuration the printer line is separated from the inserter line. Consequently, there is a movement of the tray 13 to the input of the inserter line which is illustrated in FIG. 4 as a manual movement. In this configuration there is direct communication between the controller 14A in the inserter 14 with the system manager located on the network 18. Likewise, the system manager has direct communication with the controller 11A of printer 11 and perhaps with other devices in the system that have microprocessor based control. The communication may be either direct or through communication with the controller 11A in the printer or the controller 14A in the inserter. In that manner, error recovery procedures may be implemented throughout the system. The marks needed on paper are kept to a minimum. There still must be marks in order to identify jobs from the printer line when they reach the inserter. Speed matching is not a problem in this system since the printer line and the inserter line are separate and consequently the printer is available for non-mail jobs.
FIG. 5 is a more complete description of the system shown in FIG. 4 and shows that host 16 is connected into network 18. A customer application 20 is run on the host 16 to generate a print job. During that generation various value-add programs and indexing programs 21 may add to the print data stream and include data in the print files. Such programs may, for example, add bar codes for sorting files in zip sequence and generate the codes needed for proper finishing of the print job. Print files 22 and index files 23 may be created. Print Service Facility (PSF) 24 which also runs on host 16 will generate the print data stream for driving the printer 11. The system manager 25 resides on a work station which is connected into the network 18. The network may be either a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN). Also connected into the network are various work stations illustrated as graphical user interface (GUI) 26 and graphical user interface (GUI) 27 which may be placed in various locations for different purposes. For example, one may be at the inserter for the use of the operator of that line, one might be at the printer for the operator of that line, one might be at a warehouse for the warehouse manager to check the need for supplies as they are being used, e.g., paper, toner, etc.
In the system shown in FIG. 5, mutilated mail pieces are reprinted on demand on a smaller remote print station 28 attached to the network. In that manner, replacement documents are automatically generated as the system automatically senses the mutilation of a document.
FIG. 6 shows a generic interface model for the large mail room system of FIG. 5. Such a system is a coordinated set of hardware and software components and interfaces that work together to automate the output processes associated with high volume printing, finishing and delivery of individual mail pieces. Work begins in the data processing portion of the system with applications 20 that generate print data 20A. In many instances these applications are existing "legacy" applications on large mainframes that produce many types of large mailings such as, for example, the billing statements of utilities for customers. As shown in FIG. 6 the print data 20A from customer applications is further processed by value-add applications 21A and advanced function presentation (AFP) functions 21B that condition the data for printing and prepare object files 21C, D, and E for downstream operations.
In today's modern environment there are many tools available to assist in generating customized print output. Examples of value-add functions are programs which provide address verification, presorting of statements by their postal characteristics, programs 21G for building insertion instructions based on information contained in demographic and marketing databases and programs 21F for segmenting print data into manageable units of work.
Examples of advanced function presentation functions are services that convert line data into page data, build document index objects for locating individual groups of pages and building print files for reprint, viewing and archiving services for storing and retrieving the manageable printing units of work.
Host value-add programs and AFP services are designed to be application independent so that they do not require changes in the customer's print producing applications in order to perform their function. Once the VA and AFP process is complete the print files are scheduled for printing. Control information for the insertion process is separately sent to the finishing server when the finishing hardware is not in line in the print path. Bar code or optical recognition marks on the paper are used by the finishing server to correlate the finishing instructions for a print job with individual mail pieces to be assembled and packaged for postal delivery.
FIG. 7 shows a generic model of the system manager, mailing operations manager 30, which must provide a message handler interface 31 that is used by all of the various hardware and software processors 32A-G to define themselves to the system and report changes in status. Information about the processors 32A-G is maintained by the systems manager in a database called the Management Information Format (MIF) file 33. The system manager must also provide the request, reply, message interface 31 used by application agents to query status and obtain information about the products, mailing jobs and mailing pieces in progress over a network 34 providing client/server functions.
The system and models shown in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 were developed by a council of users and vendors called LMO Systems Workgroup. That workgroup, comprised of research companies, is now known as the Data Management Task Force (DMTF) Finisher Workgroup, and was formed to identify key requirements of large mail room operations (LMO) and to explore the possibility of defining an open systems architecture standard for meeting them. This work resulted in demonstrating the capabilities of an integrated system at the "XPLOR" conference in November of 1993. The "Large Mailing Operations Standards Specification", Version 1.0, incorporated herein by reference, was published on Oct. 31, 1994, by the DMTF Finisher Workgroup and is available from Pennant Systems, Inc., Boulder, Colo. 80301-9191. It is the standard that has been developed by the workgroup to manage hardware and software processors in the large mail room operations systems environment.
The demand for standards is fostered by the need for selecting an architecture base that is widely accepted, easy to implement and extendable to future requirements. Customers and vendors alike need to feel that their solutions and products are built on interfaces that are durable and can take advantage of emerging technologies. In the desired system, easy to understand graphical interfaces commonly used on desktop computers are important.
In looking for currently available open systems standards for modeling the functions required in the large mail room operations (LMO) environment, the LMO standards work group discovered that the standard base that most closely meets these requirements is the DeskTop Management Interface (DMI). The DMI standard is managed by a group of companies calling themselves the DeskTop Management Taskforce (DMTF) who published the DeskTop Management Interface Specification, Version 1.0 on Apr. 29, 1994, incorporated herein by reference. The publication may be obtained from any company who is a member of the taskforce including IBM Corporation, P.O. Box 1900, Boulder, Colo. 80301-9191.
Implementations of the DMI are available today or committed in OS2, Workplace OS, DOS and AIX. Other platforms are sure to follow. By building LMO objects and management protocols on the DMI, LMO standards may be established in a uniform manner across all of these platforms.
In the terminology of DMI, components are physical or logical entities on a system such as hardware, software or firmware. Components may come with the system or may be added to it. The code that carries out management actions for a particular component is known as "Component Instrumentation". FIG. 8 shows a generic model of the DMI.
A management application 100 is a program that initiates management requests. A management application uses the DeskTop Management Interface to perform management operations. The management application is exemplified by a program such as an application with a graphical user interface (GUI), an application program agent, or it may be a network management protocol agent that translates requests from a standard network management protocol such as SNMP or CMIP to the DMI and back again.
The service layer 102 coordinates access to component instrumentation and component provided data in the Management Information Format (MIF) database 104.
One may note the natural relationship of the DMI model shown in FIG. 8 with the LMO model shown in FIG. 7.
In the use of the DMI, component descriptions are defined in a language called the "Management Information Format" (MIF). Each component has an MIF file to describe its manageable characteristics. When a component is initially installed into the system, the MIF file for that component is added to the MIF database 104 for use by the service layer.
The component interface (CI) 103 is used by component vendors to describe access to management information and to enable a component to be managed. The CI shields vendors from the complexity of encoding styles and management registration information. Vendors do not need to learn the details of emerging management protocols.
The management interface (MI) 101 is used by applications that wish to manage components. The MI shields management application vendors from understanding the different mechanisms used to obtain management information from elements within the system.
The CI and MI are data interfaces as opposed to procedural interfaces. Data blocks are used as the format for data transfer--not parameters to a function call. The behavioral mechanics of the CI and MI make up the data transfer mechanism.
The service layer (SL) 102 is an active, resident piece of code running on a computer system that mediates between the MI and the CI and provides access to the database 104.
It should be noted that the DeskTop Management Task Force which developed the DMI did so to close the gap between management software and the system components that require management on a desktop computer. Within a computer system, the DMI has been designed to be independent of any specific computer or operating system. It is designed to be independent of any specific management protocol. It is designed to be independent of a network but it is designed to be mappable to existing management protocols, e.g., CMIP or SNMP. Basically, however, the DMI is designed for a single desktop computer where components are physical or logical entities on the computer system, such as disk drives and word processors. The DMI does not address or specify a protocol for management over a network but the prospect of managing several desktop computers within a network was considered by the DeskTop Management Task Force. The LMO standards work group has greatly extended the vision of the DMI by applying it to a network which not only includes desktop computers, but also includes complex machinery, such as document finishers and inserters. Moreover, the vision of the DMI is extended to include large mainframe host equipment and processes running thereon. The LMO system calls for defining the manageable characteristics of complex machinery and the manageable characteristics of mainframes and mainframe processes in an MIF database so that these characteristics can be managed from a workstation or desktop computer or any GUI on the network.